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Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
THE much-touted Mutare City Council master plan was recently turned down and the local authority has been urged by the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works to utilise available space by building upwards, The Manica Post has learnt.
Addressing those who attended the 2023 half year budget performance review meeting held at a local hotel recently, Acting Mutare City Council Town Clerk, Mr Blessing Kapuya Chafesuka said the Local Government Ministry told them to look for ways to optimally use available space in the city by constructing upwards.
“We were invited by the Local Government and Public Works Minister, Dr July Moyo, for a meeting in Harare to defend the master plan. At the end of the meeting, the Minister advised us to go back and look at areas of expansion within the already available space and one way of doing that is to build upwards.
“He said there is not much land to give out, hence the decision to encourage the city to construct buildings upwards,” said Mr Chafesuka.
According to the proposed master plan, the city would have had an additional 15 000 hectares of land at its disposal, with Mutare expanding towards Riverside, Arda Transau, Penhalonga and Zimunya.
Currently, the city is sitting on 16 700 hectares.
Over the years, lack of land has seen the expansion of Mutare into nearby rural communities, a move that has disrupted communal life as families that have big plots in Dora and Zimunya peri-urban areas are parcelling them out to land seekers.
Peri-urban areas such as Mutasa, Vumba and Chigodora are also being targeted by the urbanites.
Houses have been built on pastures, while maize fields have been turned into shopping malls.
In 2014, Mutare’s city fathers declared land bankruptcy and made frantic efforts to get into a land swap deal with Government.
The deal would have seen the local authority ceding Meikles Park in the Central Business District in exchange for State land measuring 188 000ha, stretching from Dangamvura Link Road to Fern Valley Turn along the Mutare-Chimanimani Road.
However, the deal was stalled by endless court battles over the ownership of Meikles Park.
Meanwhile, City of Mutare will soon re-advertise the Town Clerk’s post after the successful candidate in a recent selection process, Mr Kumbirai Madanhi, did not take the offer.
Mayor, Mr Simon Chabuka confirmed that Mr Madanhi, who is currently with Ruwa Town Board, did not take up the job offer.
Speaking during the half year budget performance review meeting, Mr Chabuka said Mr Madanhi did not report for duty on the agreed date.
“The successful candidate who had been offered the job as Mutare’s Town Clerk was supposed to start work on July 1. However, he requested to start work on September 1 but council insisted that he should start by July 24. He did not turn up on that date.
“We presumed that he had turned down the offer. We have since written to the Local Government Board requesting to re-advertise the vacant post,” said Mr Chabuka.
The City of Mutare Town Clerk’s post fell vacant following the death of Mr Joshua Maligwa in January 2021.
The late Mr Maligwa landed the Town Clerk post in 2017, replacing Mr Obert Muzawazi, who had resigned following a string of corruption allegations.
Following Mr Maligwa’s death, Dr Antony Mutara, the former City of Mutare Health Director, was appointed the local authority’s Town Clerk on an acting basis.
Dr Mutara was, however, embroiled in a corruption related case, leading to Engineer Tinashe Mtetwa holding the fort again on an acting basis.
It was not long before Engineer Mtetwa was also relieved of his duties for being away without official leave as well as disobeying lawful instructions from his superior.
This led to Mr Chafesuka, the local authority’s Finance Director, being appointed Acting Town Clerk.
Dr Mutara was later absolved of any wrongdoing upon appealing against both the sentence and conviction in a superior court of law.
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